Elgin will NEVER expand the Valley. He's been opposed to that forever. If the MVC would expand, the pattern is that schools from Illinois would be added. Anybody ready for Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois - or maybe SIU-E and Nebraska-Omaha?

Moving to FBS FB is economic suicide unless you get a TV contract immediately. UNI has the program with the best likelihood of any level of success in FBS, but UNI seems to have fairly intelligent people at the top (AD and Pres). If CaseyGarrison can be believed at any level, MSU doesn't share that, but MSU is so broke and their FB program is so bad, that their going FBS is nearly laughable. Not really - it's actually very laughable.

That leaves WSU jumping conferences as the least unlikely of the unlikely options. The Power 5 going to the NCAA for some autonomy, stipends for athletes, etc. could change the scenario. If athletic stipends are allowed by the NCAA, WSU will be all over that like white on rice.

WSU's current success - followed by a major commitment to spend the dollars to pursue excellence - could change the scenario for WSU getting an invite from another conference. If the Power 5 throw down the financial gauntlet, the more elite leagues outside the Power 5 may want to take immediate steps to bolster their competitive position. Gonzaga, WSU, VCU, and a few others may become attractive targets.

Within the last decade, the MVC was one of the elite conferences outside the Power 5. Now, with the exception of WSU, the MVC has become the Horizon League.

I don't think anything happens soon. The whole landscape is paralyzed by the current "D4" talk, stipends, and everything else being talked about in relation to a re-structuring of the NCAA. Everyone pretty much has to wait to see the landscape in which they're realigning before they actually realign.

What really, really sucks for Wichita is their timing. If they made their big move around '08-09 like Butler, they'd likely be in a much better place right now. But instead, they made their move in the 2 year window when the entire realignment picture is paralyzed because of uncertainty.

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Leagues like the A10, CAA and MVC need to figure out what we're doing because the way things are moving we could be left out in the cold if the P5 break from the NCAA in basketball too. Dangerous times.

A sealed envelope from CUSA not withstanding, I believe MSU moving is the next domino. Or at least, it's the one I am hoping for.

If WSU moves before MSU, MSU is then screwed. If MSU before WSU, they are still ok. IMO.

What people don't realize, or they do and ignore, is the the non-power football conferences now split $75 million dollars (which is 5x more than right now).

I will admit that I don't know if that is spread evenly. If it is, that is $1.1 million per school. Not to mention, the pay days for the FCS are going bye-bye and the non-power FBS schools get upwards to $1 million dollars per game (compared to $400k MSU got for the OK State game). Schedule 2 big pay day games and that's $2 million.

Not to mention the teams that they would be able to draw in down the road. Are you going to tell me that people wouldn't show up for even for Navy? Indiana? Mississippi State? Temple? Those are at least names that the average college football fan knows. Hell, UTSA just hosted Arizona on national TV. And they didn't even have football 5 years ago. With that, ticket sales are up and you can go from charging $5 a game to even $10-20.

With that said, I don't buy the "we have to be good at this level first." UTSA, South Alabama, Georgia State all prove that. I also don't buy that our "finances have to be in order." You can't tell me that the $1.1 million and the additional money from the pay-day games wouldn't cover the additional football and women's scholarships. A scholarship at MSU isn't worth more than $15k-20k right now. Adding in 40 additional scholarships would be $600k-$800k.

Have at it guys. We need to be smart about it but we also can't waste time.

Even if it's 50 years down the road, if you ever want to get to the Big 12 level you have to start somewhere. And we aren't going to get the invite from CUSA while in the Valley.